I and Twitter pals Hiro Boga (@hiroboga), Mahala Mazerov (@luminousheart), and Jennifer Louden (@jenlouden) all wrote on the same topic today: The process of writing.

For a kaleidoscopic view of this issue (storytelling vs truth telling), check them out.
Hiro Boga: Tsunamis in the House of Wholeness
Jennifer Louden: How to Be a Writer Who Loves the Gap
Mahala Mazerov: When Stories Hurt

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. ~Franz Kafka

Right now, I’m in the beautiful Colorado Rockies, teaching a meditation retreat for writers. We spend most of the day writing, interspersed by periods of sitting meditation. In the first practice, our aim is to find our voice, say something, tell a story. In the latter, the encouragement is to let go of “story” completely and instead focus on the breath, which is always in the present moment.

How can a practice that is all about story go hand-in-hand with one that is about dropping it?

On the face of it, these seem like opposites. However, they are so alike as to be almost identical.  Here is why I say that:

Meditation practice—resting attention on the breath and, when it strays, gently bringing it back—involves two qualities simultaneously. It is one-pointed. The focus of attention becomes a single point, in this case, the breath. Yet it is panoramic, too. This very simple (though not easy) practice, cultivates clarity. Often, insights arise from, well, nowhere. You could be very surprised by what you come to understand, know, feel as a result of meditation. Narrow views, judgments, preconceived notions are suddenly seen through and you have a sense of great spaciousness. So, meditation is both one-pointed and panoramic.

When you let go of concepts, genuine wisdom reveals itself to have always been present. That is why meditation is far more than a stress-reduction tool, it is a path to enlightenment.

Now consider writing. Couldn’t you describe it in similar terms? Writing is one-pointed: you can’t write two words at a time, only one. Word + word + word until you have created something that expresses your point of view. At the same time, how do you know what to say? What do you say first? What is the point of saying it at all? What comes next? The answers to these questions come when you relax your mind and, instead of making things up based on stuff you’ve read or what you wish was true, you wait to see what arises in your mind and then write it down. This is where good writing comes from. When the writer has pre-planned what to say, her words lack vitality, juice, impact. In fact, she can use exactly the same words to tell her story, but if in one case she is dictating it from her mindstream rather than her index cards, it will read as a living document. I don’t know why it works this way, but it does.

So writing too is simultaneously (not sequentially) one-pointed and panoramic. Writing in this way, you discover what you have to say rather than presuming it, you find fields of wisdom more vast than you had imagined, you see truths only half-glimpsed before, and you write past your concepts into a more pure kind of knowing.

As a writer and one who leads writing retreats, I can tell you that time and again, I have seen it demonstrated that when you turn away from discursiveness you find the groundlessness from which insight arises. Instead of thinking you know your story, it tells itself to you and in this way, you find liberation from conventional mind. Just like meditation.

There is a way to write that solidifies your story and there is a way to write that liberates you from it. To all the writers and practitioners out there, I wish you the wisdom to know the difference, which is the blessing of a strong and steady practice.

While I stayed at Jennifer Louden’s house, we talked about heartbreak, writing, and teaching. Plus she and Bob cooked for me and let me do laundry. It was awesome.

Untitled from jennifer louden on Vimeo.

I’m involved as a partner in an internet publishing startup called Essential10! My job is Chief Creative Officer, which is the coolest title ever.

We’re looking for books!!

Here is our tagline:

Essential10® is a digital publishing company that redefines the author-reader relationship by making it easy to publish succinct, interactive books for busy people.

We will only publish for the iPhone store, the Kindle store, and as an Ebook.

What is an Essential10 Book?
An E10 book will contain 10 things anyone thinks everyone should know about something. You can be an expert in your field, an expert in your own mind, or both…

Each book will contain 10 essential points about the subject of your choice.

What Makes E10 (Quite) Different
A book can be as long or as short as an author likes. A recommended length is 2500-10000 words (15-30 pages), but if you need to express yourself in 500 or 50000 words, go for it.

The author sets whatever price he or she wants to charge for their book. We recommend between $0.99 and $4.99, but if you think you can get $199.99, go for it. Like if you’re General McChrystal and you want to write The Essential 10 Secrets to Creating Peace in Afghanistan and the World, you could probably charge a pretty penny even if it was only 10 sentences long.

The author can change the price of the book anytime he or she wants. So you can experiment with charging $9.99 and if it doesn’t work, got to $2.99 and see what happens.

The manuscript is always live, meaning the author can change the manuscript anytime he or she wants. (There will be a small charge for revising more than two times.) An E10 book can always be updated and made current.

The community will discuss, review, and rate the books. A good book is one that serves as a focal point for creating a community of interest –these will become our best sellers.

The playing field is equal and sales will be based on actual merit rather than marketing strategies or track record.

And here are the kickers:

The author gets 75% of each sale.

It only costs $49 to be published and within 3 days, your book will be available for sale on the iPhone, Kindle store, and as an eBook. If you charge $4.99 per book, you only need to sell 10 to recoup your investment.

Why You Might Write an E10 Book
You possess expertise that you’d like to share.

You want to write and publishing something because it is your dream to do so.

You want to demonstrate that your ideas can sell before trying to get a publishing deal.

You have a book coming out that you’d like to promote and your E10 book will introduce people to it.

You have a business you’d like to promote.

You’re a publisher and you want to repurpose your backlist.

You have pre-existing material you’d like to repurpose for a wider or different audience.

You don’t know why you want to do it, you just do.

What E10 Will Do For You
Format your book for the iPhone store and sell it via our iPhone app and/or

Create an iPhone app for your book (costs extra)

Format your book for the Kindle store on Amazon and make it available for sale

Create an eBook from your manuscript and make it available for sale on our site

Give you a personalized author page on our website to promote yourself, your book, and your other activities

What E10 Will Not Do For You
Tell you what to write.

Tell you how long your book needs to be or what you should charge for it.

Publish you, if what you write is pornographic or incites hate.

Examples of E10 Books

Essential10 Most Poisonous Snakes of Costa Rica

Essential10 Things Every College Graduate Should Understand About Money

Essential10 Points of Mindful Leadership

Essential10 Guide to Building a Desk

Essential10 Guide to Editing Photos from your Digital Camera

Essential10 Ways to Pick Your Nose in Public

Essential10 Hard Questions for Adults and Their Aging Parents

Essential10 Ways to Survive a Zombie Attack

These are real titles of books being written for publication. As you can see, books can be practical, emotional, obscure, and/or playful. You can write whatever you want. (Except porn or hate.)

How To Get Started
Read this PDF.

Email me with questions!

Our site will launch in a few weeks. Please sign up to be invited to the beta test.

I truly believe that Essential10 is off and running with groundbreaking innovations in the world of publishing by making it possible to immediately publish concise, topical (digital-0nly) books that can serve as a focal point for creating communities of interest and intense dialog (nose-picking notwithstanding). This is the direction publishing is heading and I believe that E10 is among the first to get there.

Hello to the creative artists out there.

Hello to those of you who wish to live authentically and deeply.

Hello to anyone out there who is confused as hell about what this means.

I’m talking to all of you, including myself.

About a month ago, I was on the phone with a close friend who was utterly confused by his own life. He had started on his adult path with a clear connection to his creativity and purpose. But now, 15 years on, with a lucrative profession and a beautiful family, he had gotten himself to a place where everything looked good on the outside but felt bad on the inside. For years he had been asking himself if he should he quit his job, move to a different town, etc. He thought long. He thought hard. One day he thought this and the next day he thought that. But nothing changed. When we last spoke, he had reached the end of his rope. He said, “I need advice. I can’t keep going in circles like this. I’m just not happy but I don’t know why or what to do. I need someone I trust to tell me what to do.”

Fortunately, I knew exactly who to refer him to. Himself.

I’m not talking about the agitated, childhood-neurotic, moralistic, affirmation-saying self. That self just kept plaguing him with thought after thought after thought, laying out hopeful scenarios followed by fearful ones, debating with him in the voices of his mother, father, best friend, favorite writers, and various television stars. I’m talking about the self that exists just beyond the fringe of discursive, conventional mind, the self who sees clearly, possesses extraordinary insight, knows the truth, and can be called upon in every moment to guide with wisdom—if only we can remember to ask.

This self automatically steps forward when we relax and stop thinking that the problems we think we have can be solved by thinking some more about them.

This self automatically steps forward when we step out of the discursive stream and, rather than allowing it to carry us, watch it rush by. This is what happens when you meditate. It is also what happens when you write.

These realizations lead me to create a retreat that combines meditation and writing. During this program we slow down, unhook from our conventional lives, rest the mind in meditation, and then write to discover who we are, what we think, and what we need to express. It is meant for anyone who wants to reconnect with his or her authentic self. It also happens to be a fantastic way for those who write to take a deep dive into an existing project or start a new one—but no writing (or meditation) experience is necessary to take advantage of this program and receive its gifts.

So I suggested to my friend that he stop thinking and instead relax his mind. I suggested that he go on a meditation retreat and let the raging river of thought settle into a cool, clear stream where what is settled at the bottom is as evident as that which floats on the surface. This is how one makes space for wisdom to arise. I wish this for him, and I wish it for you.

Please email me if you think you might be interested in attending such a retreat, but think you can’t meditate, would never dare to call yourself a writer, or your life would fall apart if you walked out of it for 3 or 7 days. We could have a discussion.

VERMONT
September 18 – 25
Authentic Inspiration
Barnet, VT
Karme Choling
Program Fee: $675
This price includes meals but does not include accommodations. To view scholarship and financial assistance resources, click here.

COLORADO
October 23 – 25, 2009
Meditation and Creativity
Red Feather Lakes, CO
Shambhala Mountain Center
Program fee: $315 – $595, including $155 tuition, depending on lodging. Price is all-inclusive.

October 23 – 29, 2009
Meditation and Creativity: An Extended Retreat with Susan Piver
Red Feather Lakes, CO
Shambhala Mountain Center
Program fee: $495 – $1,055, including $195 tuition, depending on lodging. Price is all-inclusive.

PAST PARTICIPANTS
I had not written anything in a long time. The Writers’ Retreat gave me the space, time, and inward focus to let creativity happen naturally. I hadn’t realized how much I had to say.  The meditation aspect of the retreat provided a peaceful structure where writing could be a pleasure once again instead of work.

Anne, Boston, Realtor

This course helped me integrate meditation skills such as serenity, focus, compassion, and insight into the areas of poetry and fiction. I am extremely grateful!

Brian, Ithaca, College Student

The growth I experienced in a few days was life changing.

Britta, NYC, Graphic Designer

I cannot recommend this writing and meditation retreat enough! Susan’s carefully considered practice schedule offers precisely the right balance of meditation and space in which to write. Her teaching style allows for full creative expression to unfold because she neither interferes with the writing process, nor does she abandon the writer to his or her own devices. The result is a profound deepening of the work of writing and the practice of meditation. I left with a much more sophisticated understanding of how these two practices are not only complimentary, but how meditation is crucial to the life of the writer. This is a very rare opportunity for anyone, indeed.

Crystal, NYC, Novelist

Susan Piver is very wise, intuitive, and insightful and has had great impact, with a very light touch.

Gil, St. Johnsbury, VT, Corporate Consultant

Susan is a caring, compassionate person whose presence, insights, and instructions made for a valuable week exploring meditation practice and writing.

Heather R, Albany, Travel Writer

I can’t imagine any way to improve this program because it was more than I could have asked for.

Kathy, Cleveland, Librarian

Emotionally moving, spiritually a gift, cathartic beyond my wildest imagination.

Miriam, Cambridge, Waitress

I’m teaching a Writers’ Retreat at the beautiful Shambhala Mountain Center in CO, Oct 23-29. Come for the weekend only (Oct 23-25) or the whole thing! It is very conducive to writing. No cell phone reception, no email! Just peace, quiet, and words. This program is built for you if you’ve ever said any (or all) of the following:

I know exactly what I want to write, I just haven’t written it down yet.

I have no idea what I want to write, but I just know (hope, fear) that I am a writer.

I’ve been working on this story/chapter/article for a long time and I’m completely stuck about where it’s all going.

Every time I sit down to write, I can’t think of what to say. But I know the story is in there.

I’ve been stuck in the middle of this book/chapter/article for __ days/months/years/lifetimes and I can’t seem to get it finished.

I have a deadline approaching and I haven’t even written one word! Or I did, but I hate it.

Every time I sit down to write ________ distracts me.

I don’t have time to write!!

This 6-minute video explains what the program is like:

The Shambhala Lodge: has about 30 rooms, some private, some semi-private, some dorm rooms

Private room, private bath interior

Sacred Studies Hall: Where some programs are held

Inside a program room.

In Latvian my name is Suzena Paivere.

Good luck all you Latvian lovers!

Everyone should watch this everyday.

Alex Grey is a visionary artist who makes art that shows you who you are. He and his wife Allyson opened The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in 2004 to house his most extraordinary works and present them in a sacred environment. It’s an extraordinary place and it’s packing up and moving from NYC to Upstate in December, 2008. So go see it while you can! It’s at 530 W 27th (between 10th & 11th).

I can write to the ambient noise of a coffee shop, but not to music.

I prefer to write when other people are sleeping.

I like to write on holidays like Christmas and the 4th of July. Something about feeling that the rest of the world is otherwise engaged helps me.

Hard as I try, I cannot, cannot, CANNOT write according to a routine. God, I wish it were that easy. Every day is different and after more than 7 years of trying, I have just come to accept this. Although it’s a giant pain in the buttinski.

My attention works on a push-pull basis. I have to pay attention to my writing in short spurts, toward and away, toward and away. Looks like this: 42 minutes writing, check e-mail, make tea, 37 minutes writing, watch What Not to Wear, read something inspiring, write 91 minutes, catch up with Twitter pals, write 9 minutes, etc, etc. I don’t write in discrete segments, it seems to mix in throughout the day instead.

No, I don’t have ADD.  My attention span circles its object, it doesn’t target it. It just doesn’t work in a straight line. That’s the way it is. I accept me the way I am. Finally.

Trying to write is like trying to get a virgin to sleep with you. “It’s okay baby. I love you now. I’ll love you tomorrow. It’s gonna be great. Don’t think about it so much. Now get over here.”

Even if I think I have nothing to say, if I just write one sentence, I can usually write one more. And then another. Can’t think too far ahead.

Every few hours, I do a handstand. (But not in Starbucks.)

Deadlines invite the muse, open-ended opportunity does not.

Sometimes I like to work at a desk, sometimes on the couch, sometimes in bed.

If I start writing the moment I wake up, things go well. If I do anything first (check email, kiss my husband good morning, tweet) it’s not so good.

When I’m around people too much, I can’t write. When I’m too isolated, I can’t write. Not too close, not too far. A magical dividing line that is constantly moving.

When I can’t think of anything to write, I read until the moment an inspiration hits and then I go straight to the page. Immediately. If I even stop to drink a sip of water, it disappears.

When I read what I’ve written and go, “Who wrote that? I don’t remember knowing that,” I know I’ve written something good.

Click here for this 30-minute interview on Writing Spirit Resources website. Enjoy!